The INVENTION OF LYING

“THE INVENTION OF LYING” (Ricky Gervais & Jennifer Garner)

The only thing that kept this movie from being perfect was Jennifer Garner. And I mean her acting & her character – everything negative stems from Jennifer & Anna (the role she plays) On the plus side, I guess she gets some credit for making me dislike her character so fiercely – but she’s supposed to be the Romantic Lead! You’re supposed to like her & want her to stop being such a stuck up b*tch!

But I loved this movie, so I’ll try to concentrate on what made it work.
2 years ago I would have told you Ricky Gervais didn’t have much talent.
Now, it seems the man can do no wrong – After “Ghost Town” & a very funny HBO comedy special, Gervais has come up with another hit – as co-writer/co-director & star of ‘The Invention Of Lying’ he is to be given the bulk of the credit for making this very important film (important to me & those of my ilk)

My constituents who richly add to this blog with their comments have often told me that I need to loosen up & ‘lose myself in the fantasy’ of a film (& not take them so seriously!)
Well, I totally lost myself in Gervais’ fantasy world where no one is able to tell a lie & I took it very seriously – Even though it was the personification of ‘brutality’ in it’s depiction of a brutally honest society – I still liked it better than the one we’re living in.
Gervais plays Mark Bellison; a screenplay writer in this world of complete honesty. And since no one has the ability to ‘make something up’, all screenwriters do is write stories of historical facts that professional readers ‘perform’ while seated next to a desk lamp.
Mark is stuck with the 13th century – the dullest century in history - while rival writer Brad Kessler (Rob Lowe) gets the more modern ‘exciting’ centuries to recreate.

Mark meets Anna on a blind date whereupon she immediately dismisses him for being pudgy & having a pug nose. She announces that she’s going upstairs to finish.... uh, ‘pleasing herself’ since there’s no chance this date will end in a sexual encounter – not even a kiss.
They don’t waste any time in letting you know this is a world much different from ours, even though everything else seems the same.
Advertising is as bland as the readers who sit & read ‘movies’ – a bus rolls by with the billboard ‘Pepsi – when there’s no Coke in the house’.

I don’t want to reveal too much & spoil this film - which I would call a ‘must see’ just from the message it sends – but needless to say Mark becomes the first person in this alternate universe to tell a lie (& it’s a whopper, but with good reason)
But his tall tale becomes a huge burden since no one has the ability to lie (except Mark) so every word he says is taken for truth.
I won’t tell you the set up, but my favorite line came from a woman in a crowd that yells, “We have to stop that bastard before he kills us all!”

Good tunes enhance the soundtrack, including an interesting remake of Cat Stevens’ under-rated “Sitting” by Elvis Costello & comedian Louis C.K. is very funny as Mark’s best friend, Greg (Well, at least Greg THOUGHT he was Mark’s best friend)
Another pleasant surprise are the cameos – Philip Seymour Hoffman takes a laid back approach as a bartender in one scene / While Edward Norton hilariously chews the scenery as a motorcycle cop. Also featured in cameos are Jason Bateman, Tina Fey & Christopher Guest; Bateman (as a doctor) & Fey (as Mark’s secretary) are memorable, Guest (as a movie ‘reader’) is not.

I’ll let you know that two ‘insulted’ couples left the theatre when it became apparent as to what the film was mocking & all I could think was, “I’m glad I’m not as closed minded as you pathetic pinheads.”
This will be in my Top 10 of the year no matter what – Because I think it’s not only funny, but necessary for people to see – if just one person sees this film & changes their mind about what they believe in, it won’t be enough, so that’s why EVERYONE has to go see it...